Halsey: ‘I don’t need to tour, I’m a product of the internet’

US pop star says that her online popularity baffles the "archaic" music industry

Rising pop sensation Halsey has discussed her burgeoning stardom as well as the media’s misconceptions about her in a new interview with NME.

The US singer features in this week’s free NME, describing herself as “a product of the internet” after her song ‘Ghost’ became a hit after being initially uploaded to Soundcloud.

In the internet, Halsey hit out at record labels’ “archaic” marketing tactics, saying: “It’s like, ‘Fuck you, you have no idea what you’re doing. I’m not Led Zeppelin, I don’t need to tour a country to get support there. The internet is a global narrative.'”

The singer says that she originally expected “about 100 people” to attend her recent London show during her first UK tour in September. Instead, “closer to 600 people showed up and I hadn’t received any radio play in the UK.”

“I made that video in 2012,” she said, denying that it had any impact on her later rise. “There was not another word about me in the press until 2014, but it keeps getting brought up… Everyone loves talking about Taylor Swift. I made multiple parody videos at that age; I’m quick-witted, clever and kind of an asshole, and it was how I handled that when I was 16.”

Press

She also expressed her disdain for being “pigeonholed” by the press: “Being bisexual, being bipolar, being biracial – it’s been used to define me, but I am desperate to be indefinable.”

“People wanna pigeonhole you. When the album came out there were articles saying, ‘Halsey is gonna be the next big thing,’ but they never said why. It was centred around: ‘Let’s talk about Halsey because she’s bipolar, let’s talk about Halsey because she’s bisexual, let’s talk about Halsey because she’s mixed-race.'”

“I just worked my ass off and wrote an album, but no, [the press] wanna talk about these political things.”

Read the full interview here and in the all-new free NME, available nationwide from today. Find out where you can get your copy from the full list of pick-up points.